Day 36 - Nazareth & Galilee

 Wednesday, June 19, 2013

This was a day of long bus rides to Nazareth and Tiberius with some touring of each.

In Nazareth we expected the bus to arrive at the central bus station.  There is none.  Fortunately, there were two other tourists trying to get to the same place who asked the driver in English where to get off.  He didn't understand.  But with our book and map and their persistence he finally told us that we had passed it and we should take bus 5 the other way, which we then did and made it to the church.

Nazareth isn't a sleepy little village like we expected.  It is a large, hilly, Arab city of (pop. 80k) filled with high density housing and industry.  The tourist area is small, though.  The main attraction is the Church of the Annunciation, enshrining the cave where Mary received the visit by the angel telling her that she would be a virgin mother.

Altar in Front of Cave in which Mary was Visited by Angel

Mary Statue at Church of the Annunciation

Next to that is the Church of Joseph, where Joseph had his carpentry shop, but it was closed for renovation.  We searched for the synagogue on the spot where Jesus attended but couldn't find it among the maze of stalls in the marketplace.  We did find the White Mosque.  Jeff went in but Ruth wasn't allowed because she didn't have a head covering.  There wasn't much to it.

Washing Place in White Mosque, built 1785

The highlight for us, though, was our visit to The Nazareth Village, a re-creation of part of the ancient village with actors playing the parts of villagers.  It was a guided tour with detailed explanations of life in Nazareth.  First we met a village woman leading two, friendly donkeys.  The baby followed us around to be petted.  Then we met a man threshing wheat, Simon the shepherd, Joseph the carpenter, a spinner/weaver, and Hannah the housewife.  We saw a 500-year-old olive tree, saw a stone tomb, saw an ancient winepress carved in the rock, toured a re-created olive press, and toured a synagogue representative of what Jesus might have studied in.  We tasted some bread, olive oil sauce, and olives and at the end they gave us each a clay lamp.

Friendly Donkeys in Nazareth

500-year-old Olive Tree

Tomb with Stone Door

Olive Grinder (First Step in Extracting Oil)

Jeff Trying Joseph's Drill

Joseph the Carpenter

Hannah the Housewife

The Spinner/Weaver

The Synagogue

Tiberius is on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, known today as Yam Kinneret.  We walked to the water's edge, which is a promenade full of boat docks.  Since we didn't have much time before the last bus to Jerusalem, we just attended a 20-minute movie, "The Galilee Experience", about the history of the area.  The town is a bustling commercial area with vendors all along the plazas and sidewalks selling ice cream, pizza, falafels, clothing, and souvenirs.  The lake is very wide, with the far shores barely visible in the distance.  We tried to imagine where Jesus could have called his apostles, made fish come to the nets, calmed the sea, gave the sermon on the mount, or walked on the water.  Most of those are assumed to be far north of Tiberius, but who knows?

Sea of Galilee Facing North